Lac Elan

The property is located directly North the town of St-David-de-Falardeau itself located some 20km North of Chicoutimi in the Lac St-Jean region of Quebec located on NTS map sheets 22D10, D11, D14 and D15 and covering 38851ha or 388.5 km2.

During the late 1990’s and early 2000’s part of the property was explored by a local prospector who identified Iron-Titanium-Vanadium oxide horizons and lenses in the Lac Elan area and south-westward in the sector of the St. Louis River inside the Lac St-Jean anorthosite complex. A provincial park to the north contains historical iron-titanium prospects and deposits that were examined during the 1960’s and 1970’s. The largest one is the La Hache East that was studied by Soquem and others. South of the Lac Élan property, the Buttercup prospect was explored by Bersimis Mining Corp. in the 1960’s.

BSF Resources Inc. (“BSF”), a subsidiary of ElanOre carried out an exploration program on the property in the fall of 2009, which included ground prospecting, magnetometric survey and trench excavation. The aim of the magnetometric survey was to identify high magnetic areas potentially linked to iron-titanium-vanadium mineralized zones dominated by magnetite, and to determine the location of possible trenching areas. The trench program was to locate and expose the mineralized bodies and to determine the grade of iron-titanium-vanadium over the width of the zones.

The magnetometric survey indicated a corridor of high magnetic values where oxide bodies were identified in the course of the current and/or previous exploration. Three trenches were excavated, two in St. Louis River area (RS-A and RS-B) and one in the Lac Elan area (EL-A). The trenches at St. Louis River cut oxide bodies with semi-massive oxides transition zone within the host rock anorthosite. The trench RS-A reported a continuous iron-titanium-vanadium intersection of 53.8% Fe2O3, 15.7% TiO2 and 0.4% V2O5 over 9 metres. Trench RS-B reported a continuous intersection of 56.88% Fe2O3, 16.93% TiO2 and 0.42 % V2O5 over 18.5 metres. The trench EL-A was predominately anorthosite with minor discontinuous oxide bodies. Historical and new trenches are distributed over a seven kilometre strike length, in a NE-SW high magnetic corridor to the West side of Lac Elan.

In May 2010, a new 3,126.2 line-km airborne magnetic survey, covering all of the Lac Élan property, identified three major NE-SW magnetic corridors up to 18 kilometres in length, in the Lac Elan area on the eastern claim block of the property. Previous trenches are located on the western magnetic corridor. The other two eastern magnetic corridors remain essentially unexplored, but a recent reconnaissance fieldwork confirms the presence of magnetite-ilmenite boulders on their axis. The airborne survey also identified large kilometre size strong magnetic anomalies in the western claim block, associated with rocks mapped as La Hache Monzonite which are known to contain Fe-Ti mineralization. La Hache Monzonite of the Lac Elan property remains largely unexplored because of difficult access. Many other magnetic anomalies identified by the airborne survey will also require follow up fieldwork.

In July 2011, ElanOre carried out a satellite imagery interpretation of geological features and lineaments that may represent possible faults, fractures, lithological contacts or regional mineral foliation on the property. The purpose of this study was to generate exploration targets in conjunction with airborne survey anomalies. The study mapped several lineaments from tens of metres to over sixteen kilometres. The minor lineaments are characterized by their short length, heterogeneous direction and density in the same area, while the major lineaments are characterized by their long length, specific direction and homogenous spatial distribution. Several exploration targets were pointed in this study, which are represented by V-shape and/or X-shape intersection of lineaments.

Lac Elan is a large property with prospective geology for Fe-Ti mineralization. Except for one magnetic corridor very little exploration work has been done on other areas of the property. Future exploration on the previously worked magnetic trend as well as on the unexplored magnetic corridors could lead to the discovery of other iron, titanium oxide horizons. Large anomalies associated to the La Hache Monzonite are also very prospective.

Early exploration for iron by began in the 1950’s-1960’s and lead to the discovery of the Buttercup prospect, 7 kilometres south of Lac Elan property, and also to the La Hache East deposit, 21 kilometres North-West of Lac Elan. Few years later, in the 1970’s, Saguenay-Lac St-Jean mineral exploration was initiated by Mr. Lionel Lefebvre a local prospector. This was continued by Mr. Gaétan Tremblay, a local prospector, who first explored the sector of Lake Elan at the end of the 1990’s. The discovery of magnetite-ilmenite-vanadium horizons was made at this time. Mr. Tremblay owned a few claims located on the eastern part of the property until 2004.

The early Fe-Ti exploration phase – 1950’s-1970’s

An airborne-magnetometer survey on part of the Lac St-Jean anorthosite massif conducted in 1952 by the Geological Survey of Canada indicated an extensive positive anomaly between the Shiphaw River and its tributary, the La Hache River. It was the beginning of exploration for iron and titanium north of the Saguenay River. La Hache and Buttercup deposits and the Lac Pauvre prospect were discovered in the following years.

1953: discovery of magnetite-ilmenite-apatite mineralization
in the sector of the La Hache East deposit (GM 02451).

Financed by the Fonds Minier du Saguenay-Lac St. Jean, the local prospector Mr. Gaétan Tremblay discovered and first documented magnetite-ilmenite-vanadium horizons in the Lac Élan and St. Louis River area at the end of the 1990’s and the beginning of the 2000’s. Mr. Tremblay carried hammer prospection, put in place flagged lines on 23.5 kilometres, carried out a ground magnetometric survey and mechanically dug 14 trenches in 1998-2000 in the sector of Lac Elan. Nine of these trenches exposed iron-titanium horizons up to 4 metres in thickness. The location of the trenches was mainly determined by outcrops and the use of a magnetometer. The magnetometric survey was carried out in many phases, some of which were done without a base station. The levelling of data, processed after the realization of the trenches, revealed that many strong magnetometric anomalies were not investigated (cf. Girard 2001). New trenches were proposed but never dug. Magnetometer anomalies are dispersed along a 3.5 kilometre NE-SW axis. Samples collected by IOS in 2000 provided typical analysis with 16-22 % TiO2 and 0.32-0.66 % V2O5 (GM 59058; 59059; GM 59060; GM 60537; GM 60538).

Three kilometres south-west of Lac Elan, and north of the St. Louis River, other iron-titanium occurrences were also discovered. Seven trenches dug in the St-Louis River area exposed mineralized horizons up to 12 metres thick (Huss 2003). Sample assays provided 59 to 71 % Fe2O3, 18 to 24 % TiO2 and 0.45 to 0.61 % V2O5. Labradorite found in the sector of St. Louis River was also examined for its potential as ornamental stone (GM 54700). Tremblay’s works are located on the western magnetic trend adjacent to Lac Elan.

At the same time, North American Titanium Inc. had claims covering part of another magnetic trend East of Lac Elan, without any work assessment reported to the Quebec Government.

The Lac Elan property area was covered by a low density aerial magnetic survey (1958G), from which a high magnetic anomaly was detected North-West of Lac Élan (Girard 2001, carte 1; GM-59058). No detailed geological mapping of the area is available. The area was historically prospected and explored for diversified commodities, such as nickel, copper, iron, titanium, vanadium, ornamental stone plus gravel and sand.

Regional Geology

The Grenville Province, largely Proterozoic, occupies a vast territory in the northeastern North America. It is the result of a collisional orogen with associated plutonism in crustal rocks. The rocks have been poly-deformed with high grade amphibolite to granulite metamorphism. The property is located in the central part of the Grenville geological province (Figure 4).
Many magmatic events took place within the central Grenville Province in Québec from 1510 to 985 MY before today (Hébert et al., 2003), of which four generated anorthositic suites. Then about 1330 MY labradorite-type De La Blache plutonic suite, is the oldest one intruding the basement assemblages in the central Grenville. It was followed by the huge 1160-1140 MY multi-phase labradorite and andesine-type Lac Saint-Jean anorthosite suite (about 20,000 km2). Later, the andesine-type 1080-1060 MY Saint-Urbain anorthosite suite was emplaced. The fourth anorthosite event is represented by the 1010-1008 MY andesine-type Labrieville anorthosite suite.

Iron and titanium oxide mineralization occurs within all Grenville anorthosite suites. Magnetite and ilmenite are found in the labradorite-type, while hemo-ilmenite and magnetite are associated with the andesine-type. Other Fe-Ti mineralizations are associated to the Labrieville anorthosite suite (Corriveau et al. 2007, Hébert et al. 2005), the Lac St. Jean anorthosite and the Rivière au Tonnerre anorthosite (Gobeil et al., 2003). Corriveau et al. (2007) provide more data on the Fe-Ti deposits in the Grenville Province of Quebec. Phosphate mineralization (apatite), locally in large volume, could be associated to the Fe-Ti oxides.

The Lac St-Jean and Saguenay geology was first described under the Laurin and Sharma 1965-1967 Grenville Project (cf. Laurin & Sharma 1972 and 1975) at the scale 1: 250,000, later compiled by Avramtchem and Piché (1981). Information given on these maps is limited. Hébert & Lacoste (1998) remapped the perimeter adjacent to the South-East corner of the Lac Élan property and integrated the previous geological data of map 22D15 at the scale 1: 50,000.

The Lac Élan property is located in a labradorite to andesine-type Lac St. Jean anorthosite complex. It is mapped as undifferentiated mafic units varying in composition from anorthosite to troctolite, with area characterized by monzonite.